Image via Mikolaj Barbanell/Shutterstock
This time last week, we all thought that we’d be looking at Paulo Bento being announced as the next Selekcjoner. Instead, his countryman Fernando Santos has taken over instead, being officially announced via Twitter before a press conference at Stadion Narodowy yesterday.
Fresh off the back of his time as coach of Portugal, many expected Santos to retire after he was let go by his native nation, but has instead chosen to take up a reportedly “last minute” offer from the PZPN. Santos will live in Poland, in order to get a grasp of the footballing culture as well as to learn about and watch more of the Ekstraklasa.
What of the way Poland might play under Santos? Well, his Portugal sides relied on defensive football and were often criticised for being a bit dull. On the face of it, this is a bit disappointing, as it looks to be a continuation of the dismal displays we were treated to under Czesław Michniewicz at the World Cup. However, Santos is different to Michniewicz in a few key areas; his CV contains a European Championship win in 2016, and Santos’ career has been marked by dealing with strong egos and press criticism, something Michniewicz was alarmingly incapable of towards the end.
Formation-wise, I wouldn’t be surprised if the first few European Qualifiers in the spring see Santos experiment with the squad at his disposal, and he will have one of Poland’s finest prospects in Jakub Moder freshly returned from the ACL injury which has kept him out for nearly 12 months. Moder is a versatile midfielder and one that can enable Santos to toy with different tactical ideas in a way Michniewicz either wasn’t willing or wasn’t able to on account of Moder’s enforced absence.
I’m hoping that Santos’ period in charge of Poland will see younger players like Kacper Kozłowski given more of a chance in the squad, and that Nicola Zalewski can be utilised in a way better than he was in the World Cup.
At present, however, Santos is still finalising plenty of the basics of how his tenure as Selekcjoner will look like. It has been reported that he will communicate with the squad in English (Matty Cash breathes a sigh of relief), and that one of Łukasz Piszczek or Tomasz Kaczmarek will join his usual coaching staff as one of his assistants.
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